Science, Vol 241, Issue 4873, 1649-1651
Copyright © 1988 by American Association for the Advancement of Science
Imaging of phosphorescence: a novel method for measuring oxygen distribution in perfused tissue
WL Rumsey,
JM Vanderkooi,
and
DF Wilson
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104.
The imaging of phosphorescence provides a method for monitoring oxygen distribution within the vascular system of intact tissues. Isolated rat lives were perfused through the portal vein with media containing palladium coproporphyrin, which phosphoresced and was used to image the liver at various perfusion rates. Because oxygen is a powerful quenching agent for phosphors, the transition from well-perfused liver to anoxia (no flow of oxygen) resulted in large increases of phosphorescence. During stepwise restoration of oxygen flow, the phosphorescence images showed marked heterogeneous patterns of tissue reoxygenation, which indicated that there were regional inequalities in oxygen delivery.
